Amanyangyun — Hotel in Shanghai

very late review, i was here in year end 2024

positives:

very pretty, with black swans and deers on site. the designer is Kerry Hill, so very polished and modern without looking boring. there is even an entire park located within the hotel

food was not bad

negatives: i found most of the staff quite unfriendly, when walking past you they would neither smile nor bow. some avoided eye contact, others stared outright at me. 3 times i was even pointedly asked if i was a guest and if so what was my room number. i know it's because it's a huge property, but it's located in the boondocks of shanghai!! and the way it was asked was quite unfriendly

i read from the brochure that because it was christmas season, one of the restaurants would serve fresh panettone slices, which i was a fan of. on day 1 i made a beeline to that restaurant, but instead of answering me (e.g. that is only served on actual xmas day, but you can still buy it at front desk) the staff asked if i was a guest in the hotel and what was my room number...why is that relevant...i made a complaint at the front desk and they gave me a whole panettone cake the next day, it felt a bit passive aggressive. what do i do with such a giant cake? not even sliced. i ended up not having the time to consume it and threw away

a garden tour was advertised on the brochure but none of the staff seemed to be aware, one poor lady had to give me one impromptu, you could tell she wasnt too familiar with the edible vegetable names. this was the only activity where i felt i had received warm service

some activities on site but most are conducted in chinese. staff mostly spoke to me in chinese despite noting that i had a poor grasp on the language. it felt like they valued their comfort over my comfort. i had to help other guests translate with my crusty mandarin

very secluded location as per most Amans, i think not enough activities to keep guests entertained. if not for the deers i think i would have been very bored

finally, the cherry on top. the room a/c was centrally controlled and had no thermostat. my room was BOILING at 30c and at 12AM the staff had to come in and manually cool down my room by opening all the doors. i was so tired from travelling for 12h++ on the plane / car that day and could not sleep!!! i was also concerned about air pollution so opening the doors all night was not a solution - not to mention a safety issue. no apology from the hotel and the staff that came to my room said matter of factly that this was the norm. i still dont know why, at my other hotel in shanghai i had a functioning thermostat and all the staff spoke english

it is a large property, and so many staff. however, not many guests as it was just after christmas, i stuck out like a sore thumb as the only female solo guest. yet nobody remembers my name (no greeting by Ms XYZ), i was constantly asked for my room number by everyone. all the time

black swan on the property is unusually aggressive, perhaps mistreated by guests in the past

lowkey hardselling at massage place took me aback since...

The location is at a riverside and you can see fish inside and lily flowers.There is a bridge which allows you to cross and see rabbits with a running path with a lot of plants.In the restaurants, the food is good and the scenery is absolutely beautiful.In the rooms, the wifi is bad and outside has better wifi.It is near an airport so it is a bit noisy but rooms are spacious with an indoor and outdoor bathtub and has two sinks.They provide a Kids travel bag with shampoo, lotion, body wash, toothpath and toothbrush.There is a sofa and a tv and the bed is comfortable and there are enough tables.It provides a lot of essentials with two cupboards.If you need massage or want to swim, covered! In fact, there is both a indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The architect is nice making it beautiful to stay in.You can also see deer and white peacocks and is rich in nature.||~Isabel, 8||Amanyangyun is one of the most beautiful hotels we have been to—the entire property is storied with history and so beautifully designed that every careless glance throws up a vision of art. We loved the intricate wood lattices repeated across the property, all the interplay of lights and shadows and the floral arrangements everywhere. ||What was truly special about the property is the story of how ten thousand Camphor trees were moved from Jiangxi to Shanghai to prevent them from being destroyed in the construction of a dam. There were also parts of antique villages moved from Jiangxi and rebuilt in a way that retained the historical architecture, but also infused with modern touches and conveniences. It made for a very special ambience throughout the compound. ||For a weekend stay, there were also plenty of activities to keep adults and children occupied. There are a few free roaming animals around the property, a beautiful river and many open spaces to run around in. We booked with Aman directly and our stay came with a complimentary high tea, trip photography, tea experience, a cultural activity for adults and daily activities for the children. We enjoyed all of them—the trip photography was particularly well done and captured our memories wonderfully for us. ||The breakfast spread was good—I had one of the most delicious scallion oil noodles ever tasted. Food in general was good, but service could be slow at times, and the onsite restaurants are pricey. ||One minor drawback of the property is its location near the Hongqiao airport—outside you will hear planes passing by every so often. It wasn’t an issue for us, but those sensitive to noise should take note. ||The best part of any Aman stay is the impeccable service! Everyone remembered our names, the services were perfectly coordinated and there were many little thoughtful touches that really sets the bar. The housekeeping noticed that I had a pair of sunglasses and thoughtfully left a cleaning cloth (wrapped in Aman packaging) for us.||Thank you for a...

Super disappointed in my first Aman experience - it definitely was not worth the splurge and does not even rank in my top 10 hotel experiences compared to brands like Ritz, Waldorf Astoria & four seasons. Had heard many great things about the ultra luxe brand and wanted to try for myself, but the level of service was subpar compared to even other 5star properties in China like the Regent, which are about 1/3 of the price and located super centrally.

Pros: The rooms and architecture is beautiful, and breakfast as well as the calligraphy class were amazing.

Cons: Despite telling the staff ahead of time about my desire to book the tea boat experience, they did not contact or confirm the reservation until I asked twice. Traffic was horrible from Shanghai downtown (took almost 2hrs from The Bund!). Once we arrived at the hotel the gate man did not have our names and despite clarifying that our mandarin is poor and we would prefer English service the check in staff could barely communicate in English and we had to revert to Mandarin. There were multiple miscommunications due to this, and basic things like room location was not drawn on the map for us. Also the QR code they insisted we scan to add the service staff on WeChat did not work (perhaps they were unaware that it actually directs to a hotel website?) and we were told to use the phone in the room instead…I used the lobby bathroom and walked in on a staff member who did not lock their toilet staff door…so awkward. On first arrival to the room the maid was inside, apparently doing turndown service (at 5pm?) not sure why they did not communicate with the check in staff as it made for an awkward encounter. I also noticed both the maid and staff doing the room tour did not take off their outside shoes when stepping around in our room… When calling for a buggy or asking questions about the property, every time we called on the phone it took over 10 rings to reach a staff member. When we walked around the property to explore the amenities we were asked multiple times if we were guests at the property and if so, what room number, which felt uncomfortable. Finally, there was no one there at the tea boat experience when it was our appointment time and we had to ask around - they actually got my name wrong as Li instead of Liu for some reason; finally staff came to set up the experience 10min afterwards. Afterwards we had to rush to do the high tea before our transfer arrived for downtown and they took 30min to bring the pastries to the table even though we had been told the previous day to call ahead and make a reservation. Lastly there was constant airplane noise we could hear all...